The University of Baltimore will hold its spring 2025 Commencement ceremonies for the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences on Wednesday, May 21 at The Lyric, adjacent to the campus. The University will host a ceremony for graduate students, beginning at 10 a.m., and a ceremony for undergraduates, beginning at 2 p.m.
For both ceremonies, a full platform party, including UBalt faculty, staff and administrators, will celebrate the achievements of the graduates. Specially-selected students will deliver remarks, and the students' names will be read as they are presented with their diplomas. Part of each ceremony will recognize the University’s 2025 Centennial.
At the undergraduate ceremony, Baltimore native Joyce J. Scott, a MacArthur Fellow and multi-media artist who has received critical acclaim over her decades-long career, will deliver a keynote address. Following that, she will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from UBalt President Kurt L. Schmoke.
First Lady of the State of Maryland Dawn Moore will deliver a keynote address at the graduate ceremony.
In addition to speeches by Dr. Scott and First Lady Moore, the ceremonies will feature speeches from two student speakers. The 10 a.m. ceremony will feature Kristy Towson, a candidate for an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts degree. The 2 p.m. ceremony will feature Sabrina Noble Pereira, a candidate for a B.A. in Legal Studies. These student speakers will deliver remarks as representatives of their respective classes. They were selected by a panel of University representatives.
The University System of Maryland Board of Regents will be represented by Regent Yvette Lewis, who will offer greetings during both ceremonies. President Schmoke will offer remarks at the ceremonies, and each school's dean will announce the graduates for the president to confer their degrees.
Dr. Scott works across a spectrum of media, captivating viewers with beauty, horror, and humor while confronting racism, sexism, complex family dynamics, and injustices. Best known for her use of beads and glass, Scott has challenged the hierarchies of art and craft over the course of five decades. Scott earned a BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA at Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The recipient of countless commissions, grants, residencies, and prestigious honors from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Anonymous Was a Woman, the National Academy of Design, and the Smithsonian Institute, among others, Scott has been awarded honorary doctorates from Johns Hopkins University, the California College of the Arts, and MICA.
Dr. Scott has exhibited in museums worldwide, with works included in most major public collections: the Baltimore Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Corning Museum of Glass, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Seattle Art Museum, Toledo Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Scott is represented worldwide by Goya Contemporary Gallery for her sculpture and Moblia Gallery for jewelry. Last year, Dr. Scott opened a major 50-year traveling museum retrospective, co-organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Seattle Art Museum.
Dawn Moore is the First Lady of the State of Maryland. With more than two decades of leadership in state government, non-profit management, campaign strategy, fundraising, and community engagement, First Lady Moore brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to public service. She has served at the highest levels of Maryland state government, including roles in the administrations of Govs. Parris Glendenning and Martin O'Malley, and former Maryland Lt. Govs. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Anthony Brown.
A strategist and natural relationship builder, she was one of the architects of the historic 2022 campaign that elected her husband, Wes Moore, as Maryland's 63rd Governor and the first African-American governor in the state. Throughout her career, First Lady Moore has established herself as a connector and a convener, leveraging her platform to unite public and private stakeholders around a shared vision for Maryland's future. She currently serves as co-chair of Preakness Festival 150, where her leadership has been instrumental in this statewide initiative designed to advance economic growth and tourism through innovative public-private partnerships. She has assembled a powerful coalition of Maryland leaders and built a team in collaboration with the Sports and Entertainment Corporation of Maryland to execute a bold, inclusive vision for the milestone event and a sustainable future.
As First Lady, her passion-driven initiatives align with her core pillars: supporting military families, improving children's mental health, advancing women's economic empowerment, and expanding access to the arts. She champions these causes through events and initiatives including hosting a military spouses hiring fair in Government House, partnering with the Children's Mental Health Matters Campaign, and supporting countless Maryland arts and culture institutions, including co-chairing the Baltimore Museum of Art Gala, touring Maryland Center for History and Culture and the Maryland's Women's Heritage Center, the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, and being the recipient of the Presidents Award from the Association of African American Museums.
First Lady Moore is known for her ability to bring people together across industries and communities. Her expertise in strategic planning, relationship management, and executing large-scale events has made her an invaluable asset to the Moore-Miller administration and a trusted voice in Maryland's civic and cultural landscape. A proud graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, she holds a degree in Government and Politics and a certificate in Women's Studies.
More information about Commencement is available here.